une pipe en bois = a pipe galoper = to gallop une lumière = a light le

Prévert poem: ‘Chanson pour les enfants l’hiver’
Vocabulary prediction activity
Categorise the French words below by copying them into the relevant column of the
grid, according to whether you think they will appear in the winter poem or not.
une pipe en bois
= a pipe
le soleil
= sun
galoper
= to gallop
une lumière
= a light
une petite maison
= a little house
un cheval
= a horse
une plage
= a beach
une étoile
le froid
= a star
= cold
le père Noël
= Father Christmas
un poêle
= a stove
un bonhomme de neige
= a snowman
l'hiver
= winter
disparaître
= to disappear
un vieux chapeau
= an old hat
se réchauffer
= to warm up
un musée
= a museum
un parapluie
= an umbrella
un village
= a village
une flaque d'eau
= a puddle of water
un maillot de bain
= a swimming costume
le chauffage central
= central heating
© www.teachitlanguages.co.uk 2014
23276
Page 1 of 5
Prévert poem: ‘Chanson pour les enfants l’hiver’
Possible winter poem words:
© www.teachitlanguages.co.uk 2014
Words we think we can reject:
23276
Page 2 of 5
Prévert poem: ‘Chanson pour les enfants l’hiver’
Vocabulary recap
Match the French words 1-12 with the English meanings by completing the answer grid
below.
1. l'hiver
a. to warm up
2. galoper
b. a stove
3. blanc
c. winter
4. un bonhomme de neige
d. an old hat
5. le froid
e. a puddle of water
6. une lumière
f. white
7. une petite maison
g. a snowman
8. se réchauffer
h. a little house
9. un poêle
i. to gallop
10. disparaître
j. a light
11. une flaque d'eau
k. cold
12. un vieux chapeau
l. to disappear
1=
2=
3=
4=
5=
6=
7=
8=
9=
10 =
11 =
12 =
© www.teachitlanguages.co.uk 2014
23276
Page 3 of 5
Prévert poem: ‘Chanson pour les enfants l’hiver’
Teaching notes
This lesson is designed to support KS3 students in understanding Prévert’s poem,
‘Chanson pour les enfants l’hiver’. Although for copyright reasons we are unable to
publish the poem within the resource itself, you can copy and paste it from the internet
here (www.professeurphifix.net/poesie/chanson_pour_les_enfants_lhiver.htm).
Starter
Introduce the theme of the seasons by launching the Magnet interactive (go to
www.teachitlanguages.co.uk and enter the resource number 23276 in the quick search
box – then click on the yellow star icon). Students can sort the phrases by dragging
them into the most likely season box. Use actions to give hints where needed.
Prediction activity
Explain that they will be reading a children’s poem in French about winter and give out
the vocabulary prediction activity on pp.1-2. Ask students to work in pairs to predict
which words from the list might appear in the poem and which they think they can
reject. Project the grid on p.2 and negotiate a class response to the activity, noting on
the whiteboard the words they expect to appear in the poem.
Reading and questioning
Copy and paste the poem from the internet as suggested above, or project it on the
screen and read it through with the class, asking them to repeat each line aloud.
Suggested questions for class discussion:

Who is this poem about? (a snowman)

What does he look like? (tall, white, has a wooden pipe and an old hat )

How does he move? (he gallops or moves quickly)

What does he see in the village? (a light)

What does he do? (goes into a house)

What is there in the house? (a red stove)

What does the snowman do? (sits on it)

What happens? (he disappears or melts)

What three things are left at the end of the poem? (his pipe, his old hat and a
puddle of water)
© www.teachitlanguages.co.uk 2014
23276
Page 4 of 5
Prévert poem: ‘Chanson pour les enfants l’hiver’
Creative tasks
Students could embed their understanding of the poem in a number of creative ways,
during lesson time or as a homework task. For inspiration, you may like to play the
following interpretations of the poem:
 a song version with simple animation: www.youtube.com/watch?v=mFQjNUP2CJs;
 a spoken version based around images:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZOL5hk6r0w.
Suggested activities:
 Illustrate the poem in storyboard form with text captions in French for display.
Alternatively this could be done on iPads using a free app such as Popplet Lite.
 Translate the poem into English with illustrations.
 Act out the poem, asking a friend to film it with a French voice over. This could
be done using iPads where available.
 Animate the poem with a French voice-over using a free app such as Yakit Kids.
To practise their pronunciation, the students could use www.ivona.com.
Plenary task
Review the predicted vocabulary on the whiteboard, ticking the words which did in fact
appear in the poem. Students can then complete the vocabulary recap activity on p.3
matching French and English words from the poem.
Answers:
1=c
2=i
3=f
4=g
5=k
6=j
7=h
8=a
9=b
10 = l
11 = e
12 = d
© www.teachitlanguages.co.uk 2014
23276
Page 5 of 5